Late season prompts T0 spray for yellow rust
Reports of yellow rust in winter wheat this week have prompted calls for a pre-T0 fungicide application on susceptible varieties.
The warning comes from adviser Frontier, who highlights that the disease has been seen in the yellow rust susceptible variety Oakley.
Christine Lilly, technical support manager for Frontier, says the late start to the season will add extra pressure to the problem with the true T0 timing probably several weeks away.
“Given the high levels and rapid spread of rust seen in crops last year, it is prudent to consider a pre-T0 spray in susceptible crops to prevent rapid build-up of disease,” she says.
Protecting high-risk crops early in the year and maintaining the protection throughout the season is seen as the best course of action helping to mitigate the stress placed on the crop.
Cold temperatures reduce yellow rust threat but as temperatures rise, disease development increases – as seen this week.
Some broad spectrum fungicide seed treatments offer early protection and disease levels may be lower where these have been used, but this should not be relied upon as complete protection.
“We are advising growers to check all varieties for yellow rust lesions and act quickly to deal with disease in its early stages.”
Ms Lilly concludes reports are coming in daily, but have only been seen in Oakley so far.
Other susceptible varieties to monitor are Torch (HGCA rated 1), Solstice, Viscount and KWS Kielder (all rated HGCA 4).
Warrior race of yellow rust on the rise in Europe
